FLINT, Mich. — Michigan's attorney general opened an investigation Friday into lead contamination in Flint's drinking water, and the governor asked President Barack Obama to declare a disaster as National Guard troops fanned out across this anxious city to help distribute bottled water, water filters and testing kits.
The actions drew new scrutiny to an environmental crisis that poisoned the water supply for a year and a half before it was addressed. The contamination has left a city of 100,000 people unable to use tap water for drinking, cooking or bathing, and has caused mounting political woes for Gov. Rick Snyder.
In the last three weeks, a panel appointed by Snyder reported that state officials had for months wrongly brushed aside complaints about the contamination. The governor apologized for the state's performance, Michigan's top environmental regulator resigned, and federal agencies announced that they were investigating.
In recent days, even as Snyder has declared a state of emergency, requested federal action and summoned the National Guard, he has continued to face intense criticism that the state has been slow to react, despite admitting that it bungled the problem.
In Flint, a poor city plagued by aging infrastructure and declining population, residents and business owners voiced anger, frustration and fear.
"I mean, this is insane, you know?" Sonya Houston, 42, said as she visited a fire station to pick up a water filtration pitcher. She said that she and her husband had only recently found a new home and that their daughters, ages 7 and 8, "can't even use the water in their own home."
Now, they are considering moving out of the city. Holding up the pitcher, she said, "This is not enough to keep us here."
Jason White, vice president for medical affairs at a local hospital, McLaren Flint, said the water supply became so poor in 2014 "that we got reports from our sterile processing people, those who clean the surgical instruments, that they were seeing corrosion," prompting the hospital to replace its water filters.
Since Monday, when officials began distributing emergency supplies at fire stations, thousands of people have streamed in, and aid workers have rationed lead testing kits, one per person, for fear of running out. "The volume of people that have been coming here, it's a nonstop deal for 12 hours a day," said David Cox Jr., the city fire chief. "We weren't ready for it."
The governor sent two requests Thursday night to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which this week has been distributing its own surplus supplies of bottled water, saying that the crisis was beyond the state's ability to manage. One asks that the president declare a state of emergency, allowing for immediate assistance like water, food and generators; the other asks him to declare a major disaster, allowing for millions of dollars in loans and grants to residents and the state for long-term needs like new water pipes, an improved filtration plant or temporary housing for residents.
FEMA and the White House declined to offer a timetable for a decision. But Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat whose district includes Flint, said, "We expect something within the next couple of days."
The attorney general, Bill Schuette, said Friday that his office would investigate "what, if any, Michigan laws were violated in the process that resulted in the contamination crisis." Schuette, a Republican, is considered a likely candidate for governor. Snyder, also a Republican, cannot run again in 2018 because of term limits.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department are also investigating possible violations of federal law.
Neither those agencies nor the office of Schuette (pronounced SHOO-tee) would say what people or agencies might be the subjects of the investigation. But the recent report from a task force appointed by the governor blamed the state's Department of Environmental Quality, saying that officials there had taken a lax approach to enforcement and that they responded to concerns about Flint's water with "aggressive dismissal, belittlement and attempts to discredit these efforts and the individuals involved."
Researchers at Virginia Tech who looked into the lead poisoning were even more damning, reporting last month that Michigan officials not only ignored complaints about the smell, taste and color of the water, but also lied about lead levels and tried to conceal evidence. And there have been reports that the city failed in its own lead-testing duties.
The state says it has identified 43 people suffering from elevated levels of lead, which poisons the nervous system and can stunt brain development in children. In addition, state officials disclosed this week that in 2014 and 2015, there was a spike in Legionnaire's disease cases in Genesee County, which includes Flint, including 10 fatalities, coinciding with the contamination of the water supply. They said they were investigating whether there might be a connection.
From 2011 to 2015, Flint was in state receivership, its finances controlled by a succession of four emergency managers appointed by Snyder's administration. The state returned some financial control to the city last year, and Snyder said Friday that he wanted to give it still more autonomy.
It was one of those state-appointed managers who, in a cost-cutting move, switched the city in April 2014 from taking water from Detroit's system to drawing water from the Flint River.
Almost immediately, people began to complain about the water's color, smell and taste. Bacterial contamination was found, and then the chemicals used to disinfect the water caused a different kind of contamination, but state officials insisted that the problems had been managed and that the water was safe.
It was not until September that evidence of lead poisoning became public, and officials began to acknowledge it. It turned out that the river water was corrosive, causing lead to leach from pipes.
The city switched back to using Detroit water in October, but it is unclear how long the leaching will continue. Flint is a member of a regional water authority that is building a new pipeline to bring water from Lake Huron, which should be operational later this year.
Monette Brown, 36, said she began using bottled water in 2014, after the city supply changed, and well before she heard anything about lead contamination. On Friday she had three cases stacked next to her dining table. Even with a filter, she said, she does not feel safe letting her children, ages 17, 8 and 5, use the tap water in her house on Flint's west side.
"It kind of scares me," she said. "I have to go get my kids checked often" for lead poisoning.
Early last year, the University of Michigan-Flint installed water filters and began using more bottled water, said Susan E. Borrego, the chancellor.
"Flint has, well, there are moments when you think we can't get a break," Borrego said.
Still, there are occasional flashes of grim humor. At the Flint Crepe Co., a sign under the water jug on the bar reads, "unleaded."
The Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged that it should have required that anti-corrosion chemicals be added to the river water, and that it should have taken complaints more seriously.
"I do not believe it was any type of willful neglect or disregard," said Keith Creagh, interim director of the department. "But I think it was a culture that was not inquisitive enough to bring new data in, to have a more substantive conversation around the appropriate outcome."
Kildee asked for a federal disaster declaration in September. Snyder declared a state of emergency on Jan. 5, and this week activated the National Guard, asked for help from FEMA and sought a disaster declaration.
"Everything they have done at the state level has been way too late," Kildee said. "What I am hoping does not get lost is the need to provide, on a long-term basis — and I mean decades — support for the kids who were poisoned."